On its own, LA would be the 87th most populous nation, edging out Bolivia, Hungary, Sweden, and just behind Benin. But at just 4,752 sq miles, it would be the 175th largest nation, down there with Brunei, Trinidad and Tobago, and French Polynesia. So basically, it's a country the size of Sweden, crammed into an area 1/2030th the size.

Actually, traffic was super-breezy this morning. I made it from Sepulveda to Broadway in 25 mins. I left the house @ a gentlemanly 0645. Had I left 20 minutes later, that 25 minute jaunt would have easily been an hour. Timing is everything whilst driving the mean freeways and streets of LA.

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Buttknuckle:I have so many cities that I want to visit and LA is straight at the bottom of the list.

/Superficial and fake=no thanks

You know, I hear that shiat a lot from people who have never been to L.A. And I've been all around the world, and I've found that the ratio of superficial and fake people stays around the same just about everywhere I go. Every town in every country has salt of the earth and snakes in the grass. I do find, however, that the rate of judgmental, ignorant twats who think they know all there is to know about L.A. and its denizens from watching TV and anecdotes from other judgmental twats, jumps when you leave Southern California.

biscuitsngravy:Actually, traffic was super-breezy this morning. I made it from Sepulveda to Broadway in 25 mins. I left the house @ a gentlemanly 0645. Had I left 20 minutes later, that 25 minute jaunt would have easily been an hour. Timing is everything whilst driving the mean freeways and streets of LA.

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

Huh. I thought that was a West Coast thing. Out here, we only use "the" when the road has a name - the JFX, the LIE, the Capitol Beltway, the Belt Parkway, the Baltimore Beltway, the John Hanson Highway, etc.

shamalamadingdong:Buttknuckle: I have so many cities that I want to visit and LA is straight at the bottom of the list.

/Superficial and fake=no thanks You know, I hear that shiat a lot from people who have never been to L.A. And I've been all around the world, and I've found that the ratio of superficial and fake people stays around the same just about everywhere I go. Every town in every country has salt of the earth and snakes in the grass. I do find, however, that the rate of judgmental, ignorant twats who think they know all there is to know about L.A. and its denizens from watching TV and anecdotes from other judgmental twats, jumps when you leave Southern California.

I love it there. Lots of culture, lots of great places to eat, I find people there to be very polite and friendly actually.

shamalamadingdong:You know, I hear that shiat a lot from people who have never been to L.A.

there's a high percentage of people in this country who rarely leave their own counties, let alone their states. These are the people I imagine when I hear idiots regurgitate stereotypes about any city, let alone LA.

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

So this is the opening salvo in the L.A. vs S.F. flame war? The use of the word "the?"

It's an overcrowded shiathole with awful traffic, a bunch of foreigners, the crappiest downtown ever for a huge city, the Valley sucks, and is superficial and fake.

Yet, it has Malibu and Palos Verdes and all of the other really nice places in the LA areas. And gorgeous weather for the vast majority of the year (you know we're in a heatwave when downtown hits 95).

I don't love LA proper and the only time I really visit is for Dodger Stadium. I used to go more often for concerts and shows, but these days I'm old with young kids so that doesn't happen anymore (but living near a big Metro area is great for that stuff).

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

Of course, both the SoCal variant of "The 5" and the NorCal variant of "5" are different from the entire rest of the country, where The 5 would be referred to as "Interstate 5" or "I-5".

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

It's short for "the 405 freeway," "the 5 freeway," the 101 freeway," etc.

It's just a freeway thing. When referring to Pacific Coast Highway, we call it PCH. NO ONE calls it "the PCH."

drew46n2:there's a high percentage of people in this country who rarely leave their own counties, let alone their states. These are the people I imagine when I hear idiots regurgitate stereotypes about any city, let alone LA.

It's like the "LA was built in a desert" nonsense. 1910-1950, Los Angeles County was the top producing agricultural area in the country, and the water systems we're famous for weren't built until the 60s. Try doing that in a desert.